The Navajo came to the Arizona/New Mexico region some time around 1100 AD from somewhere in California, but their language is a member of the Athebaskan language group that is mostly represented by languages in the Pacific Northwest. Navajo and Apache are pretty much mutually comprehensible. Whether other Athebaskan languages share this trait with Navajo and Apache I don't know.

According to the newspaper article that brought me to this site, languagediversity is to culture what biodiversity is to nature.On the list of countries counting the most endangered languages India is on top (196), followed by the United States (192) and Indonesia (147). The last speaker of Eyak, a language of Alaska died last year. So, you have the choice of 192 U.S. languages if you want to take one on. Which will it be? In my area I could choose Ripuarisch , a language spoken in Rhineland.

We had a newspaper article yesterday that pertains to thistopic.According to the article, only one native speaker of Livonianremains on Earth, in Latvia. Eyak, an Alaskan language, died last year with its last speaker.These are two of nearly 2000 that UNESCO says have gone extinctor in danger of doing so.With each language being a vessel of culture, a repository for a unique set of feelings, expressions, wisdoms, ways of lookingat the world, it is worth preserving.According to the article, in the USA alone more than a fourthof the 192 languages once spoken have disappeared; 71 are severely endangered, e.g., Gros Ventre (fewer than 10); Menomonee(35 speakers).Livonian is being revived by being taught in schools to youngpeole in Latvia and thru poetry. Sort of makes one want to learn one to help the cause along..

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